Rebirth
by Alden-san
Summary: [I to X] The Rebirth files were a hoax. This man wasn't, couldn't be... No. She refused to believe it. [XI to XVII] He remembered the boy with the angry glare. [rebirth files IX to VII filed]
1. Files I to X

rebirthFiles: 1.01-1.10  
post-awakening.  
entitled: 'Reaction'

* * *

I 

She really doesn't understand it.

A green dragon, an ornate design of ink, makes its way, from the back of one wrist, up his arm, past his neck and back down to his other wrist. His hair, darkened from the coulour of mud to an almost black chestnut, hangs loose, brushing his collarbone lightly. His forehead protector, wrapped tightly around one arm, bent into a sharp arc. A sword, handle resting in one hand, tip in the other. Eyes, dangerous and unfamiliar eyes, glint in challenge.

He taps his foot, waiting for her to say something, do something. This isn't the one she knows. This isn't the man she trained under, not the man she idolized as a child. This isn't the sweet, modest, slightly nervous man with the flowers on his desk, nor is it the irritated mentor yelling at his young charges.

This man has a confidence he never had. This man radiates power that he never had.

II

When she'd been told of the Rebirth program, she had denied it's existence. No way her government would do that, could do that, to a person... Or let the people around this man trust him. Take a powerful, angry, self-destructing young man, perform a complex jutsu to suppress some parts of his personality... that went against everything her village stood for.

Surely it didn't exist. The Rebirth program was a lie, a hoax. There were no reformed ruffians passing the streets, disguised as peaceful citizens, forgetting their true nature. They'd proved it, found the documents that proved the creators of the original papers to be liars and fakes. Signatures, plans... Those were real.

Weren't they?

III

Shikamaru had told her the documents were false. Of course she wouldn't doubt her old friend, he would never lie to her. Unless he felt he needed to- No. He wouldn't. Not only was it impossible, it was... strange. Why would a rebel group of medic-nins perform strange, untested procedures on their own nin?

It made no sense.

Of course, given the amount of files on these people, there would be no way for something that large could be pulled off. The number of files that would need to be edited, the number of people bribed or blackmailed into doing it... And there'd be no point. Right?

Of course, converting hazardous ninja into calm, docile members of society- No. Just... no. If she could believe that of the Hokage and the elders, then she was halfway to being a missing-nin already. Loyalty... Not blind, but sensible. It was just common sense. The Leaf didn't do things like that - Orochimaru was exiled for doing strange experiments on people.

Yes. It didn't exist. Why did she even question it?

IV

Iruka had once mentioned his childhood to her. His parents had died when he was little, and it had sent him on a downward spiral. He'd been a rebel, pushing the limits of anyone he worked with.

He'd been a prankster, someone who didn't believe in anyone or anything. He'd raised himself, and he'd learned not to take any crap from anyone. His teachers, his classmates, his partners... They'd all just been things in his way. He'd show them... He had to grow up through the war, so even when his parents had been around, they weren't around much. But they'd loved him.

He'd lost everyone he'd cared about that night. All because of that demon.

But he told her how he'd screwed up, and been assigned to assistant teaching position until he cooled down. He told her how he fell in love with the little orphans, the kids who wanted to be a ninja like him. So he'd changed himself.

That's what he'd told her, and she knew it was the truth.

(She knew he believed it. Was it true?) Yes it was.

V

Kakashi had mentioned Iruka once or twice. The two had some sort of connection - they'd grown up in the academy together, even though Kakashi had graduated a year or two before Iruka. He'd mentioned how the guy had been an idiot - reckless, endangering his teammates.

Yet she'd always noticed a hint of (admiration?) in his voice, when speaking about that Iruka. Now, to Kakashi, Iruka was boring. That's how it seemed, from what she noticed talking to him. He considered Iruka a bunch of wasted potential.

But... Iruka hadn't gotten weaker, had he?

Kakashi had started the mission then. He was hiding something, she knew it.

VI

When there was a fire at the admin building, she was sort of confused. Fires don't happen there. Well, fires can happen anywhere, but that's why they have ANBU everywherem and firefighting nins with water jutsu. To make sure nothing happens.

But things happen, so she ignored it. She was a medic, all the way in the hospital; It was nowhere near her. Still, it was so strange... Things like that didn't happen. Though, really, she was just a teenager. Maybe it was a fluke fire.

But when she asked what burned, they mentioned files... 'Those files' she'd picked up on a mission...

The Rebirth files.

They were gone.

VII

He shrugs, irritated but careless, annoyed but just there, not really putting forth any effort to do anything but wait. After a few moments, he asks her what he problem is.

She's a good shinobi, but even she can be spooked. She scurries away, and he gives a 'psh' before continuing his way down then street. How had she even recognised him?

Because he was him. No tattoo, no sword, would ever change that. He was just... different.

(Understatement of the year.)

He was still... him. But... Did this prove what she (hadn't) suspected, about the Rebirth program? And why... what had happened? If it was the Rebirth, did that mean someone had reverse it? But why, after so much time...?

VIII

This day was getting weirder by the minute. When she'd woken up, everything had been fine... But, sometime before lunch, she'd felt that something strange was happening. Then she ran into him, and the day went downhill from there.

She had lunch with Ino, who hadn't seen him yet. When she told her, however, Ino went beserk and dragged her out onto the streets looking for them. Figures he'd run into them from behind and yell at them for being in the way.

When Ino saw the shirtless (except for his chuunin vest), tattoed and, well, different Iruka, it was like she was in a state of shock. He was gone before he could notice, and she had to walk the blank-eyed Ino into a cafe and buy her a coffee to revive her.

Ino asked what the hell had happened to their (former) sensei.

She didn't receive an answer.

IX

She'd woken up when Ino had waved a hand in front ofher face, called her name. Sakura, Sakura. She shakes her head a little, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Where is she? A cafe. With Ino. Because of..

Okay, she wasn't fine. Was this a genjutsu? Was the world around her not real? Was that really her sensei, the one she'd grown up knowing? Could she even accept that as reality?

Was this her fault?

X

He'd beat him. He'd beat Kakashi-sensei.

He'd called him out, that afternoon, the day he'd changed. The day Sakura and Ino had sat in the cafe, discussing the false files. The Rebirth files. The day they'd asked people about Iruka, all that time ago, and realised the person they were describing was the very man walkign the streets now, only ten years older.

And now Kakashi-sensei was lying on the ground, his face bleeding and Iruka holding his facemask. Yelling at him to let them see. Iruka was... bullying Kakashi, pushing him to do something he would never do. Kakashi got up and attacked Iruka, and the two were wrestling on the ground, just punching eachother out in the streets like brawling children. Scary, angry young children.. No, men, because the look in their eyes was murderous.

Had it been admiration in Kakashi's voice, all that time ago?

Or had it been... relief?

:files I-X, ende:


	2. Fixes XI to XVII

rebirth  
Files: 1.11-1.17  
archive.  
entitled: 'Memories'  
----

XI

It was him.

His one remaining eye couldn't be deceiving him. The man in front of him wasn't the peaceful man he'd known but the dangerous one he'd known even longer ago. The tattoo was classic Iruka. But... why was he...?

Unpleasent experiences drifted into his brain, almost forgotten memories of a good kid gone wrong. Umino Iruka had pushed the system to its limit, daring them to expel him from their ranks. They couldn't, though. He was, even at his age, a master of his craft.

It wasn't that he was more skilled than older masters, but his personal style could avoid almost any other's moves with ease. When he fought, he'd been like water, striking like the tide and blocking other's swords like they were ineffectual splashings. His family had come from the Water Country, all those years ago. He had missing-nin ancestry in him.

The thing was, for all how exceptional he was, they wouldn't promote him past genin. He couldn't be trusted with higher-class missions, and he hated that - so much that he attacked an established ANBU member, Hatake Kakashi.

Some accounts say Kakashi taught him his place, but they weren't there. Nobody was, except these two feisty teens with anger problems. Iruka had been jealous of his position, and Kakashi had needed some way to take out his frustrations that most people didn't think existed.

The one person who was there that wasn't Iruka himself won't tell anyone how the scar over his eye wasn't just from an operation.

XII

He was sure they could have been good allies, if Iruka hadn't been such a rebel. He'd refused Kakashi as a teacher 'cause he was a 'tightass'. How Kakashi had loved that one. He was only a year older than Iruka, but he felt five or six years older when around the younger guy. It was an irritating experience.

He was a perfect example of someone graduating on skill alone.

The two had been in the same squad for about a month, before the team leader demanding they be split up. Neither could stand eachother.

It was after this, when they were both about fifteen, when they fought. And oh, did they fight. The forest they'd hidden away from the village to fight it was in a sad state afterwards. Iruka's taijutsu vs. Kakashi's ninjutsu. Ultimate battle.

But the jutsus had proved too easy to dodge for the slippery genin. Both were worn out the end, with Kakashi's face bleeding and Iruka's arm and leg all burned. Kakashi had performed the last blow.

Yes, Kakashi had won. No, Iruka hadn't learned his place. He'd always worried. Secretly, that Kakashi was so much better than he was. This illusion was dispelled after the fight, though.

To be fair, Kakashi's jutsu list hadn't quite the growth it would have someday. Even if both had continued to advance, Kakashi would probably have advanced much faster than Iruka. There was only so far one sword style could go, as opposed to Kakashi's eventually 1000 jutsu. But they'd never gotten to see.

Two weeks later, Iruka had been seen at the Academy, helping out. A month after that, Kakashi went over to see him at his honorary chuuninship party.

XIII

Iruka had cringed, at first. He knew the scar was under the mask..

Kakashi hadn't been sure what to think. This spunky, rebellious (and sometimes downright vicious) fighter had become, well... docile? No, he still had a bit of the fighter in him at that point. He'd even shared a drink with Kakashi. But it had been obvious the month and a half had wrought a change in the teen.

He'd shrugged, said he was doing it for the kids. Kakashi had noted the topknot. Iruka had nodded, and said nothing about it.

When Iruka had talkd about his job, though... Kakashi saw the look many had when they spoke of great battles where they'd specifically shone, or parents speaking of their up-and-coming children. That was genuine passion, to teach them how to handle their jutsu and weapons, make their parents proud. Their faces just lit up, Kakashi had seen it...

He hadn't pegged Iruka for the fatherly type, though. He'd seen him play around at the Academy after missions, though, so it wasn't too far of a stretch. So many damn orphans in this village, hard to keep straight who exactly had parents.

After what happened to Kakashi's own father... no, he wouldn't dwell on that.

Anyways, now Iruka was a teacher (hence the promotion)and Kakashi was an ANBU, and neither really had much reason to talk.

So they didn't.

XIV

You know, Iruka's parents weren't saints.

They were normal, of course. But they fought a little too regularily, a little too easily. They'd finally settled their problems. About a week into the peace, that's when the Kyuubi came. They'd been one of the last wave, neither able to tear themselves from their son.

That's why it had hurt so much, other kids had whispered. They did it secretly, but Kakashi knew how to listen. He always tried to feel sorry for the younger boy, time and time again... But then he'd do something so reckless, so stupid, that all Kakashi could do was damn the boy's idiocy. And popularity.

Of course, Kakashi had friends, everyone did. But they didn't seem to be equals, which really ruined everything. Everyone talked up to him, acted like he was some huge hotshot (which he was), and he really didn't have a chance to have a good time. That kid, though... Everyone laughed at him, and many shunned him, but he had a few friends. Kakashi had... envied him. His sword skills were amazing, but he was enough of an idiot so as to make himself reachable.

That was, until that downward spiral was given a kick when his stupidity and recklessness got most of his team, his friends, killed. He didn't sober up after that, he just got worse. Pushed furthur, harder, as if trying to be punished in a society that wouldn't punish his petty rudeness, his little screwups. A week off missions, a month off. He would just sit at the Ichiraku ramen stand and eat his ramen, glaring at everyone else. They ignored it- they were used to it.

He liked to drink. He drank a lot, some nights, but slept it off. He never did anything bad, while drunk. But he did drink. Slowly, his reflexes started to slip, and his 'genius' was becoming less valuable.

Then, the fight with Kakashi. Then...

XV

Sakura mentioned the Rebirth program to him. Not the first time (even frauds were confidential), but once evidence of their reality started to appear... Their legibility...

Kakashi had dug furthur, using his status as a power figure (one of the villages most well known, most trusted Jounin) to find access to the Rebirth files. This was just before their 'burning', and he'd seen the signs of possibility. A decade or so ago... It could've happened.

The list of names... many were dead. Some had retired. Two were recognisable.

Hayate's seemed to be less a personality change than an attempt to cure his chronic sickness. they thought the same chakra blockages might help... It had weakened the sickness, but not stopped it, it seemed.

And then, there was Iruka.

When he'd seen the name, Kakashi had stopped reading. He'd gone home, taken his team out for lunch. It had eaten at the back of his mind, something obvious and poisonous. Kakashi wasn't a fool. He buried himself in his porn that afternoon, knowing he'd be looking at it the next day.

Except he wasn't. It had 'burned'.

He knew there was somethign shady. Someone didn't want him to see that file.

XVI

He'd debated with himself what to do. He knew the risks, but he also knew that something like this... It had died with the last Hokage (who had shut it down when he learned about it). Kakashi could inquire if he wanted. He could also be refused information harmlessly.

So he asked for a meeting with Tsunade.

Of course the woman was up to her ears in paperwork. Her assistant was rushing back and forth, figuring everything out, deciding missions etc etc. But when Kakashi walked into her office, and dropped the word 'Rebirth', everything froze.

They'd discussed it calmly. Kakashi was expressly forbidden from telling anyone the truth about the Rebirth program. He agreed, and made a decision. He wasn't going to tell anyone anything.

He was just going to unlock some doors...

XVII

He waited a week or two, looking around for a specialist of this sort of thing. Then, he hired the man to show him how to work with other's chakra pathways. He said most couldn't block them, but they could wipe the slate clean with a surge of chakra, eliminating blocks without harm.

That was exactly what Kakashi needed.

That morning, he showed up in Iruka's house without Iruka knowing, and drugged his morning coffee. He sent the surge through his brain as he laid unconscious, and left.

Nobody should live life not knowing who they really are, he'd decided. Nobody.

:files XI-XVII, ende:


End file.
